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The virus isn’t going anywhere and the WHO Chief placed more blame on those who refuse the vaccine. He didn’t think the milder but more contagious Omicron was the end and used that as a fundraising plug, among other things. They’ll need more money to help combat this. It’s been almost two years with many entities profiting from this in one way or another so it makes sense to continue.
The Chief said we aren’t done
The World Health Organization Chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said we can still beat this but we aren’t out of the woods yet. Among the health issues we face, COVID needs to be a priority.
We’ve done well with others and he praised those efforts. Tobacco use has been reduced and work in climate change continues. But don’t think we’re done with that virus yet.
The Chief encouraged vaccination
Tedros spoke at a WHO executive board meeting recently, “There are different scenarios for how the pandemic could play out and how the acute phase could end. But it’s dangerous to assume that omicron will be the last variant or that we are in the endgame. On the contrary, globally, the conditions are ideal for more variants to emerge.”
The WHO is targeting vaccinating 70% of the world’s population by mid 2022 as well as improving testing and tracking for each variant. Tedra thought “we can end COVID-19 as a global health emergency, and we can do it this year.”
The Chief says we can do better
Omicron actually affects those who have been vaccinated as well as those who have already had the coronavirus. Tedros explained,“It’s true that we will be living with COVID for the foreseeable future and that we will need to learn to manage it through a sustained and integrated system for acute respiratory diseases. But learning to live with COVID cannot mean that we give this virus a free ride. It cannot mean that we accept almost 50,000 deaths a week from a preventable and treatable disease.”
But they’re going to need help. “Let me put it plainly: If the current funding model continues, WHO is being set up to fail. The paradigm shift in world health that is needed now must be matched by a paradigm shift in funding the world’s health organization.”
The European region echoed the Chief
Dr. Hans Kluge leads the European office. He thought Omicron might be easier to handle but to not let your guard down. He thought it, “offers plausible hope for stabilization and normalization,” but “our work is not done.” He complained about the lack of vaccine access and how that might have lead to more variants.
Kluge still thinks we can get this under control even though he thought “it is almost a given that new COVID-19 variants will emerge and return.” We need to keep doing what we’re doing. Watching for new variants, a strong vaccination push, better indoor ventilation, affordable antivirus medications, testing, masks and distancing are all still on the table. Kluge concluded with, “If and when a new variant appears, I believe that a new wave could no longer require the return to pandemic-era population-wide lockdowns or similar measures.”
